Are You ______ in Place?

I have never been a fan of following the crowd. The one exception is the “shelter in place” order that it seems like most of the world is under right now. For many people, working at home has forced upon them a new way of doing business. The technology to do so efficiently has been with us for a while, but not until the worldwide pandemic has it been so widely accessed.

In the last month, I have seen more home offices, converted bedrooms, kitchens, and dining rooms of the people that I do business with. Most people have discovered that geography is not an impediment to conducting business. No matter when and where, Zoom can put you in front of someone.

How are companies dealing with this changing business environment? Successful companies always find ways to deal with any challenges that they face. They do not consider challenges as obstacles in the road. Instead, they believe that they are part of the road. “Shelter-in-place” has turned into project-manage-in-place, code-in-place, meet-in-place, sell-in-place, support-in-place. You get the picture … fill in the blank with your function.

Many of the companies that I have worked with over the last month are going through a variety of reinvented means to do business. They have been forced into self-examination of their operating protocols and in most instances they have found more efficient means to conduct their operations. This spans everything from internal meetings, customer interactions, and the extended use of technology into other areas of their business. What a great opportunity!

If you are ready to hop on board with reinventing the way you operate in this new business environment, there are two things you can do right now to get started. The first is to maximize your use of “work anywhere” technologies throughout your entire organization. The second is to examine your current work processes and adjust as required.

In using “work-anywhere” technologies, a great place to start is the use of video meetings. With video, geography is no longer a constraint. Any device with an internet connection and a camera can get you into the game. You can meet anytime and anywhere.

Another benefit of the technology is the ability to record the meeting for review or for consumption by those that were not able to attend the meeting. Just the change in meeting medium has forced people to review how they operate. Many companies have found that their meetings have become more productive.

Work anywhere technologies have proven to also be of great benefit in test automation. Companies that currently test their payment systems using physical POS devices or ATMs are finding that their virtual employees are no longer able to do the job. Why? Because they no longer have access to the devices.

What is the solution? A 100% virtualized testing environment that eliminates the need for physical devices. It is just like all the virtual meetings that everyone is having only this is “testing-in-place” and it allows testing professionals to test anywhere at any time.

Besides the convenience factor or a virtual testing environment, studies have shown that automated testing can reduce the cost of fixing errors by 5 times! And, in many instances where getting a product to market faster is important, companies that employ virtual test automation can increase their revenues. Saving money and making money; what is better than that?

In the second business optimization scenario, improving your processes will increase business productivity. Many people think that formalizing business processes is either a hassle or a waste of time. But studies show that process for “any” business function is the path to greater efficiency. Here is a perfect example. If you are selling a product or service to a customer, 52% of closing the sale can be attributed to following a process. That is better than the odds of guessing head or tails in a coin flip!

I love the saying “good business planning is 9-parts execution and 1-part planning.” Most everyone likes the execution part. It is the planning part that sometimes is not as much fun. I bet you have heard the old saying, “dive right in the water is great.” The problem with that is that if you dive right in before checking out the depth of the water or deciding if your water entry will be a jump, a dive, or a cannonball; the consequences could be tragic.

Planning is a critical component almost anything in life. Like anything that you desire to do well, planning gives you a roadmap to follow and to measure by. Professional software testers always have a process, or a system of steps, or test cases, that they perform to ensure that the code operates as designed. Letting things fly without testing is like diving headfirst into the shallow end of the pool.

If you do not have formalized processes for doing business … yea … the kind that is written down … take the time to develop some. They do not need to be complicated. Remember that simple is better than nothing. Process is power.

Using virtualization technologies and process improvement can dramatically increase your business success. The best part about both strategies is that the ROI is very quick, and implementation does not need to be difficult in order to benefit. All you need to do is get started!

Rich

About the Author

Dr. Richard Greene, DBA, has more than 30 years of experience as a sales executive and testing professional. He is active in sports and is a 7-time Ironman finisher and ultra-distance open water swimmer. Rich also has a passion for helping others to achieve peak performance in their personal and professional lives.

As a Sales Director at Ascert, he draws upon this passion for excellence to help companies realize their highest levels of efficiency and business potential. Using the industry’s leading technology from Ascert, his customers can achieve unprecedented levels of testing productivity and performance in their organizations.

Contact Rich at: RichG@Ascert.com or 415-339-8500 x5125